Lilliputian LegoMania creates miniature world

Groveport recently saw an explosion of construction, albeit in miniature.

ANDREW MILLER, ThisWeek Community News

Groveport recently saw an explosion of construction, albeit in miniature.

The Central Ohio Lego Train Club has once again erected a world in miniature in the Groveport Town Hall Art Gallery, 648 Main St., including an exact scale replica of the Town Hall itself.

"This is the third time we've hosted LegoMania, and every year, we have people asking when we'd be able to have it again," Community Affairs Director Linda Haley said. "The last time was in 2008 and it's taken us four years, but we've got it back."

The free exhibit will run through Dec. 31. Hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays. The gallery will be closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

"Families who are looking for some free entertainment options should appreciate this event," Haley said. "It's an opportunity to engage kids -- and we've even got an area where the kids can create their own Lego creations."

The exhibition encompasses the entire gallery room, making for a perfect game of "seek and find," she said.

"With hundreds of buildings, scenes, animals and little yellow people in tightly created settings, I guarantee that you'll see something new every time you visit," Haley said. "It's so captivating because there's so much to look at.

"You'll see an exact replica of Town Hall, which required going to a lot of work to find the Lego pieces needed to replicate this 1876 building. I think people will be really impressed, because they take great pride in these pieces being absolutely architecturally identical."

Members of the building team are primarily Ohio State University scientists, computer personnel and engineers, along with an art teacher and several liberal arts students.

Exhibit organizer and member Carolyn Cheney believes Legos and an analytical mind are a perfect fit.

"Scientists are very creative people; we have to be able to come up with new theories why things do what they do," she said. "It is just that we have to be very skeptical, too, so our output tends to look rigid rather than arty."

Cheney said LegoMania is an expression of both the scientific, engineering aspect of Central Ohio Lego Train Club members as well as the artistic.